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A Monthly 
Newspaper 
about Esperanto 
Ten cents a year 


ESPERANTO BULLETIN 

St KV -*t*no». Tm Cr»r> « Viw* f'l'Mt Oea *1 Crsre Taa. V fat.tr. Ok * «« *«», Vrsetv.Oea «Mtw, 

Cur* KovUx* in Ch. ceyo *ad Co*wi» i < tceti pit »t~r luiliii) twin._ Fo reign po> t«*< -. n -wu vki >(■*' tor »to totm.lei 

Monthly American E»pcr»nti»t Co, 035 fortieth Sheet, Ctucafo November’ j*>8 Volume T~Ntunber ~ 3 ~ 




WHAT IS ESPERANTO? 

THE following reply »* quoted from a translation of the 
Declaration of the First World Cmigrea* of Kapemntiot*, 
at Bologna, France, August, »*... 

Esperanto is an attempt to di*aemis*te t« the whole 
world a language neutrally human, which, not intruding 
itself in the Internal life of the people, and aiming not 
at all to croud oat the eai&ttog national langaages, 
would give to the people of different nations the ability 
mutually to understand each, other, whwh can aerre a* 
a peace-making language in the public institution* of 
those when* different nations* fight among themselves 
shout the language; and in which can be published 
works which have an equal intetest for all peoples. 
Any other idea or hope which this or that Esperantist 
connects with tsperanto, is bis purely private affair. 



THAT Rsprrapto is much mote 
then the mew amusement of an 
immruse ■•and of enthusiasts sad 
faddl-dt is shown by the action 
of thf United States Oovrentncnt 
in heading a t portal representa¬ 
tive to the recent Esperanto 
World Gbngrva* at ’Dresden, Get* 
many. Major Foul K. Straub, of 
the Medical JseTvhe. held the rath¬ 
er peculiar position, ami as ha did; 


not. know Esperanto before going 1 In *i«mI New England paper* Indicates that the New 
t" l>re*ih-(i it may W laken for ! England division In using systematic 


I 


may 

grunted that he went as an iuipar- |: 
Hal and unprejudiced observer, j 
Major Sirauh returned an anient i 
advocate Of the international Ian- i 
guape. During his *tmy In Dr»*a- j 
den. only a week, he learned much t*f the language sad j 
it* msrvrlou* adaptability to international uses. Ue 
sat at table with representatives of ten different native 
tongue*, nhosw national identities could not be de¬ 
tected hr any "brogue" in their pronunciation of Re- j 


effort With the 

SifVaa, ■ v;;:;.:::; : ' 

The Clio ve-rwv Hie IN Y> Herald Off Aug. I? report* 
the formation Of a 5*tnisU« Esperanto cl**a which u 
Iwtna attended by person* <vf all political creed*. 

The New York Tribune- nr September f. report* a re*o- 
lotion for tho use of Esperanto, pctaiied at the *U(tenth 
lnicru.«tt«n.il p«acc conference 

The Newark • N, J ) Time* print*. In ratty to a cortc- 
«l»;r«lejit. Inform*linn dieted * year **<> 

FhUafeJIe Eapemnro. off Buffalo. Is out with Number 
r IVA« 

The Worcester (Muse.) Telegram »sy* there are forty 
nsllnnaltue* lev Utat «dt.v„ and booal* Esperanto, 


Volume 4 


perantn. lie saw the wonderful ^mention?, in which j 

men of -irons eonvirtiani poured forlh their thought* ! K",4nro U friendly to 

*.. * ■* ' M " *‘ J ~- ’*• “ ! - ItllA Preaa report* the opening of an 

10OI, 

a (Maine) Journal report* an Esperanto 

—, . .... - brl-tlan Endcavorer* In the Free Baptist 

Dcccnibct 1908 Number 5 r*h <PU.)c F.iat prints on HCpU-mfeCr <Sth an 

pnriren of Esperanto and Clrevk, Apropos 
n of Creek ,» posalble International lan- 
> o«t seems von v meed that Esperanto nil* 

Ivld (Mssa) Union call* loudly and face- 
10 printing of all Harper publtrattOAa in 

■>rk T*ren* of August 9th hs,* a two-column 
|>»\ Zamenhof. 

ited J'tes* correspondent off Washington 
•word atnrjr of tbo appointment of Major 
saden. and tlila sraa taken by hundred* of 
e ll»e country. 

•r<t <Coon,l Courant ha* a half-column 
lllraantlc policeman who speak* Esperanto 
ends a "lest" Bohemian woman on her way 

weeks spent In Inlcrvlcwtng edliors of 
tines tn New York Bos ion and Pltlisicl- 
B-iker. ndltor of Amerika EapcrnnUsto. te¬ 
ch favorable publicity is In prospect from 
> As a matter of fact, there 1* an unfilled 
■bd magazine article* discussing E*p>'r*nto. 

lOhto) Telegram tn*l*ts thst Its home 
h an Eeperanto club, if for nothing el»* 
even with neighbor Amherst, ft aecom- 
onetlon with .1 good editorial arrument, 
rgh Bun t« regularly publishing arHelen In 
ih English translation for comparison and 
readers. 


Amerika Esperantisto 


A Monthly Magazine of the 
International Language 


ESPERANTO 



American Esperantist Company 

235 Fortieth Street 
CH1CAOO 


jesratwirYO ajsd mi noun ntu 

Mr. C*ane. ***oe»nt* nddor Of tha Mmtn« World. Chl- 
ha* an article un Esperanto In the Uaue of flep- 
ti-mher 6th. Mr. Crenc I* c«rrv»nccd. 

The Mexican Mining Journal, City of Mexico tn a 
.letter lo Amerika £*t«-rnntl.itu. say*: 'There I* lan¬ 
guage Problem enough her* and Ujo «ubjcel of a uni- 
vehsal ia»Buag« I* «f Jntvrekit 10 many liietl of many 
tMUPtca IVs wiu he ffhui to ova itie euhjact romc 
notice a* l»* Intiweat warrani* for **t«r reader* " 

Stcary r>. KU»c |» hni-iug s->n» good prupaganda artl- 
cle* printed In New York City, principally la the Mall 
and F.Tjvra**. . * 

The Military Surgatnu Cftrll*!*. Fa, ha a an article In 
llw- September t**»* by l>t. Yrmong. 

Esperanto Oaretn l« the name of a new Eaperanto ' 
monthly publi*hM at Ctunda Injure. MejUcc. Apart ado 116. 
The subscription price la 75 twill* Mexican. 

Henry W. Mahcr ef FMtsUurgh. h:«« an uxcwllstct reply 
to tm wtuM-hc refermor* atal Improicfa of Kapcranto 
In the New Turk Time* 

The Ooiumbos (Ohtn) l>iapalrh l* being well haadiod 
by some tSwiK'IAftti** who knows hu hualnca*. and u 
giving much space to good article*. 

James McKtMy of FUtshwrgb. 19 puhiisl.lug « anrle* 
ef trtlclva In the (i.apateh, of that etty. 

t u-m- t.ep*>ffa uf « split in lh« Eepejahto Congrtw* are 
hole# clrvulaird. and should 1 * Corrected wherever found, 
Th* Boatt-n Moralnk OM* cchoe* them in an editorial 
paragraph S*i>umt-er 2nd. 

A Do«ton actress nretulred fire hundred Csperasto 
letter* and much notoriety by advertising theater 
ticket* a* prl*e« for the besl leUen* tn the latcroa.Uon.il 
language. 

The Musical American. New York, nay* that Felix 
Si«eli»-r, Whoever he may be. I* writing an own in 
Esperanto. Amerika Espsnwjtlato would like to publish 
a translation of a popular Ha!inn opera. 

Tha «lmnH*nceu* artwararee of propa*«a*ta articles 


A Magazine of 
Study Helps 
Literature 
News 
Official Organ 
for America 


Price, Ten Cents 


Per Year, One Dollar 
































AN 


INTRODUCTION 

TO 

ESPERANTO 


Elements of the International Language, with a 
Short Story and Vocabulary 


BY 

ARTHUR BAKER 

Author of The American Esperanto Book — Editor of 
Amerika Esperantisto, Official Journal for the 
Esperanto Association of North America 


[Copyright, 1908, by Arthur Baker] 


CHICAGO 

AMERICAN ESPERANTIST COMPANY 
1909 






.CTo' 


€ 16 1908 


Gopies Heceived 


T 




. 14 i h * S; 


E INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE 



n^HE international exchange of merchandise and 
A citizens, goods and ideas, news and literature, 
has established an undeniable need for an interna¬ 
tional medium of speech, writing and printing. 
Every new invention increases and emphasizes this 
necessity. The urgency of the demand has engaged 
the talents of hundreds of linguists, of whom all 
labored with indifferent success or ultimate failure 
except Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, of Warsaw, Russia. 
He did not invent an international language, but 
discovered it already in existence. He adapted 
and equipped it for every-day use, and named it 
Esperanto. 

Esperanto is based on the common elements of 
European languages, with superfluous matter elim¬ 
inated, a wonderfully simple grammar, easy pro¬ 
nunciation and phonetic spelling. Whenever Dr. 
Zamenhof found a word used in three or four 
languages he adopted it into Esperanto, giving it 
phonetic spelling and the most-used meaning. For 
example, circulaire in French, Zirkular in German 
cirkular in Swedish, circular in Spanish and Eng¬ 
lish, with two meanings in the last-named language, 
is cirkulero in Esperanto (all nouns end in o ) and 
means a printed circular. 

This selection of international word-material, 
the elimination of difficult sounds and the intro¬ 
duction of a simple and elastic system of forming 
words, have conclusively demonstrated the lines 
on which an international language must be built. 

The aim of Esperanto is not to displace existing 
languages, but to provide a means of expression 
by which persons of different nationality can avoid 
the inconvenience of interpretation, and in which 
can be published books of world-wide circulation 



AN INTRODUCTION 
TO ESPERANTO 

Copyright, 1908, American Esperantist Company 


ALPHABET 

The Alphabet consists of twenty-eight letters : 
abcSdef g g hhij JklmnoprsStuu 

v z. The sounds are as follows : 

a = a in father. j = y in yet. 

C == ts in hats. j = z in seizure, 

t =ch in church. o —o in note. 

e =a in fate , but not a s=^ in so. 
so long : e in eh or there. §=r s J t J n show. 

g =g in get. u= 00 in soon. 

g in gem. u= w in how. 

Ti = ch in loch?. r is rolled or trilled, 

i = / in machine. z = z in blaze. 

The remaining letters are pronounced exactly as 
in English: bdfhklmnptvz. 
oj = oj in boy. aj =y in my. 

ojn — oin in coin. ajn = ine in mine. 

Every word is pronounced exactly as spelled, 
and no letter is ever silent. 

The accent or emphasis is always placed on 
the syllable next to the last: ba'lo ; di-li-gen'ta. 

a The student will at first pronounce all the vowels long, 
but as he gains facility he will naturally shorten them, making 
them much shorter if the syllable is closed by a consonant. 
Thus, ve-ni =vay-nee, but ven-ki=^«-^r^. For models by 
Dr. Zamenhof showing method of syllables, see American 
Esperanto Book , pp. 78 to 81. 

b A hard guttural hh , seldom used. 





4 


GRAMMAR 

“I detest grammar!” is a statement which 
those who teach the English language often hear. 
This is an unconscious error. Grammar is really 
very simple and logical, easily learned. It is 
straight and regular. But the English language 
is wofully crooked, bumpy, knotty and irregular, 
and won’t match with grammar. Drawing a 
straight line with a crooked stick is easier than 
learning grammar with the English language. Es¬ 
peranto is straight and regular, therefore it is easy 
to learn and grammar as applied to it and by it is 
also easy to learn. 

You will find the following statement very 
useful in securing a simple conception of grammar, 
and if a liberal interpretation is given, it is quite 
true: Language is the expression of thought; and 
all thought relates to things , their description, their 
acts and the description of their acts . When we say 
time flies we speak of time as a thing, and of its 
flight as action . The best language is that which 
lends itself most easily to accurate and entertaining 
description. We shall not speak of Esperanto as 
the best language, for that is a matter of personal 
opinion, but we declare it to be the easiest language 
and cite in proof the fact that of the four great 
classes of words each has a distinctive sign which 
indicates a part of its meaning and classifies the 
word at sight: 

1 Names, o ; 

2 Qualities, a ; 

3 Action, s ; 

4 Manner, e. 

All the rest of grammar relates to and plays 
upon these four classes of words. They are 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


5 


called, in the order named above: Nouns, Ad¬ 
jectives, Verbs and Adverbs. 


NAMES 

Let us suppose that a child, knowing nothing 
of language, awakens in possession of well-devel¬ 
oped senses. His eyes give him knowledge of 
a certain object in the room and he cries “Oh ! ” 
5 He has learned his first Esperanto word — O 
means simply an object. To complete its sense 
a definite word is necessary. Let us suppose 
that it is a cat. We would name it, in Esper¬ 
anto, kat'o =cat-thing. 


QUALITY 

The child beholds the color of the cat, as 
being different from that of surrounding objects, 
and exclaims : “Ah ! ” Again he unconsciously 
6 speaks Esperanto, for A means, in Esperanto, 
kind or quality . It too must have a root-word 

to designate the particular quality or kind. 
Suppose it is nigr', meaning black . Then nigr'a 
kat'o would mean a black cat . 


IDENTITY 

First, we had simply a things and to distin¬ 
guish it from other things we called it kat'o. 
Then, observing in it a quality which proves it 
different from others of its kind, many of which 
are spotted white, gray, yellow, etc., we identi¬ 
fied it as nigr'a kat'o. Still, that means only 





6 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


a black cat, and there are thousands of black 
cats. We can add a word called in English a 
definite article , and it designates the thing of 
7 which we were , speaking. Thus, la nigr'a 

kat'o means THE black cat . 


ACTION 

We have seen that o means a things and that 
a means a quality of the thing . 

Action is usually indicated by the letter s at 
the end of the word, as in the English flies, runs, 
writes , etc. But just as o for thing is never or 
seldom used without a root-word to tell what sort 
of thing we mean, so s for action is never used 
without a word telling what the act is, and an 
added letter telling whether the act is past, or 
present, or future. These additional letters pre¬ 
cede the s and are : 

8 A'S, Present . 

9 I'S, Past. 

10 O'S , Future . 

Let us say that the action is that of running: 
La nigra kato kur'as—The black cat runs. If 
we wish to say did run or ran, the word is kur'is ; 
or if will run, kur'os. 

11 When action is referred to as indefinite, the 
sign is 'i: kur'i, to run. 

12 If the action is conditional, something which 
might happen or have happened, the sign is 'us : 
Se la kato kur'us —If the cat should run. 

13 A command to perform a certain action is 
expressed by the ending 'u : Kur'u \=Run! 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


7 


MANNER 

Just as there are various kinds of cats, there 
are different ways of running. Words expressing 
14 manner end in 'e : La nigra kato kuras rapid'e= 
The black cat runs rapidly. 


PARTICIPLES 

Remember the four great classes of words: 
Name , quality , action , manner . You are now to 
consider a class of words which partake of or 
participate in the functions of all four classes, 

15 and are called Participles. 

The basis of the participle is action . When 

16 the act is being performed by the thing of which 
we are speaking, the sign is 'nt'; but when it is 

17 received by the thing (or person) to which the 
participle refers, the sign is simply 't'. The 
time of the action (present, past, future)is indi- 

iScated by a', e', o', same as in the verb. Here 
are the participle signs, attached to the familiar 
root-word, am', meaning love : 

PimvxN—loving. 

Amint '=having loved. 

Amont '=about to love (future). 

Amat ,= being loved. 

Amit' =having been loved. 

A mot' = about to be loved. 

To complete the participle we add : 

19 ( a ) The sign of the noun, 'o : Amant'o=fl 

person who is loving; 2CVS\Wo=one who has been 
loved , etc. 



8 AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 

20 (7)The sign of the adjective, or quality, 'a : 
Amant'a^/^ quality of being in love; amit a= 
the quality of having been loved. 

21 (e) The sign of the adverb, 'e, gives a word 
which is neutral and circumstantial in meaning, 
thus : Amant'e, §i gojas —Being in love , she is 
happy. 


EST' AND THE PARTICIPLE 

The participle with 'a ending is very often 
used with some form of est'=^. It is neces¬ 
sary in expressing the compound tenses ; that is, 
when we wish to fix the time of one act in relation 
to the time of another act. (Upon the broad 
principle that language can describe only objects 
and their acts, being or existing is considered an 
act, and est' has the same form as any other 
transitive verb). The compound tenses are : 

Estas amanta=w loving. 

Estas aminta — has been loving. At the 
time indicated by estas the action described in 
aminta is finished and past. 

Estas amonta=A about to love . At the time 
of estas the action of amonta is in the future. 

Estis aminta=^d7/ been loving. At the past 
time of estis the action of aminta was then 
complete and past. 

Estis skribanta —was writing. 

Estis laboronta=Z£/tf.r about to work. 

Estos vidinta=a//7/ have seen. 

Estos veturanta=ze/z7/ be traveling. 

Estos venonta=z£/z7/ be about to come. 

22 The same series of combinations can be made 
with the passive forms of the participle—that is, 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


9 


the 'ata, 'ota, and 'ita forms, which indicate that 
the action is received : 

Estas amata=w loved. 

Estas amita— has been loved, etc. 


SUBSTITUTE WORDS 

23 The frequent repetition of any important 

word makes a sentence awkward and monoto¬ 
nous. For example, we would not say John told 
me that John would come , but John told me that 
HE would come . In this case the word he means 
John, and is used as a substitute. Such words, 
called Pronouns, are used in Esperanto much 
the same as in English, and the simple forms 
are: / mi, you vi, he li, she §i, it gi, we ni, 

they ili. In addition to these, Esperanto has 

24 the word si, meaning self or selves ; and oni, 

25 meaning one, they, a person, etc., in the indefinite 
sense. 


RELATION WORDS 

26 Remember once more that language describes 
objects and their actions. We require quite a 
number of words to show the relation between 
one object and another, or between two acts, or 
between one object and another, or between an 
act and an object. For examples : The cat runs 
ON the floor. The bird sits UPON the tree. 
Flowers bloom in June. 

All such words are called Prepositions. Their 
use in Esperanto is the same as in English, 

27 except that in English we use him, her, them, me, 
etc., after a Preposition, while in Esperanto the 




IO AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 

correct form is li, si, ili, mi, equivalents of he, 
she, they, I. We would say, literally, toward she . 


CONNECTION WORDS 

28 Language requires also a class of words 
used to connect objects or acts, or both. Some¬ 
times the word is quite simple: Kato kaj hun- 
do =a cat and a dog. It may also define 

the connection as well as state it: La hundo 
dasas la katon ; tial, la kato grimpas arbon= 
The dog chases the cat; therefore, the cat climbs a 
tree. These connecting words are called Con¬ 
junctions, and they are the joints or connecting 
links of the sentence, or statement. 


OBJECT OF THE VERB 

Certain verbs, or action words, require an 
object to complete their meaning. This object is 
the word against which the act of the verb is 
directed. To mark the object of the verb in 

29 Esperanto, we add the letter 'n to the word, thus : 
Mi vidas la viron=/ see the man. Li kondu- 
kas la cevalon=i/<? is leading the horse. The 

30 sign 'n is also added to every adjective or quali¬ 
fying word which belongs to the object : Berto 
havas belan, rugan rozon =Bertha has a beau¬ 
tiful red rose. 


PLURAL 

31 When we speak of more than one person or 
thing, we add the letter 'j : birdoj, §afoj =birds, 
sheep. The qualifying words take the sign 'j to 
agree with the word they qualify : nigraj birdoj, 





AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


ii 


32 blankaj black birds, white sheep . The 

objective sign 'n follows the 'j when used with the 
plural : Li havas blankajn §afojn=//<? has 
white sheep . 


POSSESSION 

33 Possession is indicated, in Esperanto, by the 
word d e=of: La edzino de Allan =Allan 1 s 
wife . La fianko de la monto= 7 >z<? mountain 1 s 
side . 


FORMS OF PRONOUNS 

The possessive form of the pronouns mi, vi, 
li, §i, gi, ni, ili, si, is indicated by adding the 

34 adjective sign : mia mine , via your, yours, lia 
his, §ia her, hers, gia its, nia our, ours, ilia 
their, theirs, sia one } s own, their own, etc. 

35 Adding 'n (see 29) to mi, li, §i, ni, ili, we 
have the equivalents of the irregular English 
forms me, him, her, us, them . 


THE NUMERALS 

36 Unu one, du two, tri three, kvar four, kvin 
five, ses six, sep seven, ok eight, nau nine, dek 
ten, cent hundred, mil thousand, miliono ?nillion. 

37 The tens and hundreds are formed by join¬ 
ing numerals ; when the relation is one of mul¬ 
tiplication the smaller number comes first : du- 
dek twenty, kvardek forty, sepcentor sep cent, 
seven hundred . The units are added to the tens 
and hundreds when placed after them : dek unu 
eleven , dek ses sixteen, kvardek kvar forty-four. 





12 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


38 Adjectival ordinals are formed by adding 
the adjective ending : unua first , dua second. 

39 Adverbial ordinals are obtained by adding 
the adverb ending : unue, firstly. 

40 Fractionals are made by adding the suffix 
'on : du'on'o, one-half \ tri'on'o, one-third. 

41 Multiples are formed by adding 'obi, with 
the adjective or adverb ending : duobla, double ; 
trioble, triply. 


WORD-BUILDING 

42 Esperanto is equipped with a series of prefixes 
and suffixes, giving a wide range of expression 
to a very small vocabulary. 

PREFIXES 

43 BO indicates relationship by marriage : frato 

brother, bofrato brother-in-law. 

44 CEF chief or principal: kuiristo a cook , 6ef- 

kuiristo a head cook. 

45 DE means from : flugi to fly, deflugi to fly from. 

46 €F 3 S dismemberment or separation : semi to sow, 

dissemi to scatter. 

47 IK to begin suddenly: bruli to burn, ekbruli 

to blaze out, to take fire. 

48 EKS same as the English ex: eksprezidanto, 

ex-president. 

49 EL out: iri to go, eliri to go out ; Iasi to let, 

ellasi to let out. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


13 


50 FOR signifies away : kuri to run , forkuri to run 

away ; iri to go, foriri to go away. 

51 GE both sexes : patro father , gepatroj parents. 

52 MAL the direct opposite: granda large, mal- 

granda small. 

53 NE not, neutral: bela beautiful, nebela plain. 

54 RE to repeat or reverse : diri to say, rediri to 

repeat ; veni to come, reveni to return. 

55 SEN without: nombro number, sennombra 
numberless ; haro hair, senhara bald. 

SUFFIXES 

59 ad continued action : kanto a song, kantado 
singing ; paroli to speak, parolado a speech. 

60AN an inhabitant, member or partisan: Amer- 
iko America, amerikano an American. 

61 AJ a concrete idea or object: ekzisti to exist, 

ekzistajo, a being, an existing thing. 

62 AC contempt : hundo dog, hundaco cur. 

63 AR a collection : arbo tree , arbaro forest. 

64 EBL possibility : kredi to believe, kredebla 

credible ; vidi to see, videbla visible. 

65 EC quality : bela beautiful , beleco beauty. 

66EG increased degree or size: granda large, 
grandega immense. 

67 EJ indicates a place devoted to: herbo grass, 

herbejo, a meadow. 

68 EM shows tendency or inclination : labori to 

work, laborema industrious. 


14 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


69 ER a single object: mono money, monero a coin. 

70 ESTRO a leader : urbo urbestro mayor . 

71 ET denotes diminution of size or degree : bela 

beautiful, beleta pretty; ridi to laugh, rideti 
to smile. 

72 ID the young of: kato katido kitten. 

73 IG to cause to become: kontenta content , kon- 

tentigi to make content; kolera angry, kolerigi 
make angry; devo devigi to compel. 

74 IG to become: rica ridigi to become rich; 

fari to do, farigi to be done, to take place. 

75 IL» a tool: kudri to sew, kudrilo a needle . 

76 IN the feminine: viro man, virino woman. 

77IND worthiness : ami to love, aminda amiable. 

78ING holder for a single object: plumo a pen, 
plumingo a penholder. 

79 1 ST a professional, one occupied with: kanti 
to sing, kantisto a singer. 

80 uj that which contains: hindo a Hindu, Hin- 

dujo India. 

81 UL a person : granda large , grandulo a large 

person. 


COMPOUNDING WORDS 

82 Anybody can join Esperanto words, there 
being no limit to the number and variety of such 
compounds other than the obvious requirements 
of logic and clearness. Until the student has 
become familiar with the vocabulary he will have 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


15 


82 difficulty in recognizing the elements of a com¬ 
pound word. Thus, bona good , and odoro odor, 
give the compound bonodora, good-smelling; 
from 6io ally and povi to be able, we have dio- 
pova, almighty; en in, kovri to cover ; enkovri, 
to cover in, cover On seeing a word which 

is not found in his vocabulary the student should 
try to divide it into familiar elements. 


PROPER NOUNS 

The names of all continents, countries and 
large cities (Azio, Ruslando, Parizo), common 
names of persons (Johano, Vilhelmo, Mario), 
etc., are given Esperanto spelling. Other words 
retain their national identity. 


INTERNATIONAL WORDS 

Many words are already international. Such 
are taken into Esperanto with no change other 
than to conform the spelling and pronunciation 
to Esperanto rules: automobilo, lokomotivo, 
telefoni, fotografi, aeroplano. 


THE CORRELATIVE WORDS 

The table of words presented on the following 
two pages is typical of the general logic and 
simplicity of Esperanto. Each ending has a 
fixed meaning, while the initial syllable indicates 
the application. Thus, by learning the nine 
endings and five beginnings, one has the forty- 
five words. Where three or four English terms 
are used to define the Esperanto word, this does 
not indicate a diversity in the Esperanto meaning, 
but shows only varying means of expressing the 
idea in English. 





TABLE OF CORRELATIVE WORDS 


16 AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


Demonstra¬ 

tive 

TIA 

That kind of 
Such kind of 

Such a 

TIAL 

For that reason 
For that cause 
Therefore 

TIAM 

At that time 

Then 

TIE 

In that place 

There 

Negative 

: 

NENIA 

No kind of 

No such 

No 

NENIAL 

For no cause 
For no reason 

NENXAM 

At no time 

Never 

NENIE 

In no place 

Nowhere 

Interrogative 

Relative 

KIA 

What kind of? 

( tia ).as 

KIAL 

For what cause? 
“ what reason? 
Why? 

KIAM 

At what time? 
When 

KIE 

In what place? 

Where 

Collective 

Distributive 

General 

cia 

Every kind of 
Each kind of 
Each, Every 

ClAL 

F or every cause 
For all reasons 

ClAM 

All the time 
For all time 
Always 

ClE 

In every place 
Everywhere 

Indefinite 

IA 

Some kind of 
Any kind of 
Any, Some 

IAL 

For some cause 
For any cause 
For any reason 

IAM 

At some time 
At any time 
Ever 

IE 

In some place 
Somewhere 
Anywhere 


Quality 

adjectival 

Motive 

adverbial 

Time 

adverbial 

Place 

adverbial 


vO 00 ON 

00 00 CO 00 






























AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


17 


TIEL 

In that way 

So, As 

Like 

TIES 

That person’s 
That one’s 

TIO 

That thing 

That 

TIOM 

That much 

So many 

As many 

TIU 

That person 

That one 

That 

NENIEL 

In no manner 
In no way 
Nohow 

NENIES 

Nobody’s 

No one’s 

NENIO 

Nothing 

NENIOM 

No quantity 

None 

NENIU 

Nobody 

No one 

KIEL 

In what manner 
Like, How 

As 

KIES 

Whose 

KIO 

What 

Which 

KIOM 

How much 
How many 
(tiom ).As 

KIU 

What one 
Which 

Who 

ClEL, 

In every way 
In all ways 

ClES 

Everybody’s 
Every one’s 
Each one’s 

Cio 

Everything 

All things 

All 

ClOM 

All of it 

All 

Ciu 

Everyone, Each 
Every 

eiuj, ah 

IEL 

In some manner 
In some way 
Somehow 

IES 

Some person’s 
Some one’s 
Anybody’s 

IO 

Something 

Anything 

IOM 

Some quantity 
Somewhat 

A little 

IU 

Some person 
Somebody 
Anybody 

Manner 

adverbial 

Possession 

pronominal 

Thing 

substantival 

pronominal 

Quantity 

adverbial 

Individuality 

pronominal 


O m m 

G\ Q\ G\ G\ 0 \ 















i8 


CORRESPONDENCE 


The first use which the average student of 
Esperanto makes of the language (and unlike other 
languages it can be used from the moment one 
takes up the study) is generally to test his new 
world-citizenship by writing to as many Esperan- 
tists in as many different countries as his time and 
opportunities will permit. One may secure corres¬ 
pondents in any corner of the world, and a large 
list of foreign addresses is constantly published in 
Amerika Esperantisto , the leading Esperanto mag¬ 
azine of America, in the British Esperantist , of 
London, Germana Esperantisto , of Berlin, and 
others of the fifty-five Esperanto periodicals. 

While many Esperantists correspond on serious 
problems of philosophy, science or world-politics, 
by far the majority content themselves with mere 
revelling in the new sensation of coming into touch 
with the people of the world, and in the sense of 
having suddenly become a cosmopolitan. These 
correspond mostly by post cards, and interchange 
of this kind may be carried on with very limited 
knowledge and practically no study of the language, 
It seldom fails, however, to result in increased 
interest and ultimate mastery of Esperanto. Get 
some foreign addresses today, write a few cards of 
greeting, and by the time replies reach you you 
will be able to read them without difficulty. Here 
are a few forms : 


Kara Sinjoro: Mi sen- 
das al vi koran saluton 
de Esperantisto ameri- 
kana, kaj tre §atus, se 
vi bonvolus inter§angi 


Dear Sir: I send to 
you hearty greeting from 
an American Esperant¬ 
ist, and would like very 
much if you would ex- 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


19 


poStkartojn kun mi, sur- 
skribante kelkajn vor- 
tojn. Mi legis v i a n 
adreson en Amerika Es¬ 
perantist, la monata re- 
vuo de Chicago, kaj Car 
mi Jus komencis lerni la 
internacian lingvon estas 
al mi plezuro senti, ke 
mi jam ne estas limigita 
per la malsameco de la 
lingvoj, sed povas flugi 
eksterlanden per Esper¬ 
anto. Kun alta estimo, 


Estimata Fr aU lino: 
Jen estas po§tkarto, kiu 
montras vidajon en mia 
amerika hejmo. Se vi 
bonvolos sendi al mi kun 
surskribo ian karton kun 
vidajo de la naturo au 
portreton de popoltipoj 
de via lando, vi estos 
ricevinta antaue mian 
koran dankon. Kun la 
plej granda entuziasmo 
pri nia nova komunikilo 
kaj certigante al vi, ke 
mi faros £ion por helpi 
gian kreskadon en Am- 
eriko, mi estas, plej re- 
spekte via, 


change postcards with 
me, writing [on] a few 
words. I read your ad¬ 
dress in Amerika Esper- 
antisto , the monthly re¬ 
view from Chicago, and 
as I have just begun to 
learn the international 
language [it] is to me a 
pleasure to feel that I 
no longer am limited by 
the difference of lan¬ 
guages, but can fly out- 
landward by Esperanto. 

With high esteem, 


Esteemed Miss: Here 
is a post card, which 
shows a view in my 
American home. If you 
(kindly) wish to send me 
with inscription a card 
of nature or a picture of 
types of people of your 
country, you will have 
received in advance my 
hearty thanks. With the 
greatest enthusiasm for 
our new means of com¬ 
munication and certify¬ 
ing to you that I shall 
do everything (for) to 
help its growth in Amer¬ 
ica, I am, most respect¬ 
fully, yours, 





20 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


Respektata Sinjoro: Vi 
havas jene po§tkarton 
de—mi preskati diris 
“de amerikano, ” sed 
subite mi memoras, ke 
dar mi nun komencis 
lerni la internacian lin- 
gvon mi ne plu estas 
simple amerikano, sed 
ankaii mondano. Nu do, 
de unu mondano ai alia, 
saluton trans la maro ! 
Mi gojos, se vi trovos 
okazon por respondo. 
Kun plena respekto, 


Respected Sir: You 
have here a post-card 
from—I had almost said 
“from an American,” 
but suddenly I remem¬ 
ber that, as I now have 
begun to learn the inter¬ 
national language I am 
longer simply an Amer¬ 
ican, but also a world- 
citizen. Well then, from 
one world-citizen to an¬ 
other, greeting across 
the sea ! I shall be glad 
if you find occasion for 
reply. With entire re¬ 
spect, 


FORMS OF GREETING 


Estimata Sinjoro, Sinjorino, Fraulino=A'x- 

teemed Sir , Madam , Miss. 

Mia Kara Amiko =My Dear Friend . 

Kara Kolego, Kamarado=Z><?0r Colleague, 
Comrade. 


FORMS OF CLOSING 

To most continental Europeans the American 
style of closing letters seems rather brusque and 
lacks elaboration. In Esperanto one may say : 

Akceptu, mipetas, mian sinceran saluton = 
Accept, I beg, my sincere greeting. 

Mi estas, respektata sinjoro, via humila 
servanto= r / am, respected sir, your hmnble servant . 







AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


21 


Kun la plej sincera esprimo de miaj bon- 
deziroj = With the most sincere expression of my good 
wishes. 

Kore via =Heartily yours. 

1 4 Kun danka respekto =With thankful respect. 

Tre vere via = Very truly yours. 

A READING EXERCISE 

On the following pages will be found a rather 
pretty story of creation, taken from Hindu lore. 
The Esperanto was written by A. Grabowski, one 
of the early Polish Esperantists, and is published 
in the Fundamenta Krestomatio , a collection of 
graded standard reading. The student will find 
many words divided by the sign ' and reference 
figures. The sign ’ is used to divide the word into 
its elements so that they can be traced in the fol¬ 
lowing vocabulary, while the figures refer to the 
marginal numbers in the pages devoted to grammar 
and word-building. It is quite impossible, of 
course, that a work so brief as this should be com¬ 
plete or entirely clear. However, one may from it 
gain a good idea of the principles of Esperanto and 
can understand that with fuller explanations he 
would grasp any points that may seem obscure in 
, the following text. 

In the English translation, which is printed 
to opposite the Esperanto for comparison, the Esper¬ 
anto is not followed so exactly as to give a literal 
rendering, nor so loosely as to permit the use of 
very good English. Where in Esperanto a word 
is used which is ordinarily omitted in English, the 
translation is enclosed in parentheses ( ); where 
English requires a word which is superfluous to 
Esperanto usage, it is inserted in brackets [ ]. 




22 


LA DEVENO DE LA VIRINO 
J£IAM 88 la Cio 92 pov'a° Mahadeva kre'is 9 la bela'n 30 
Hind'ufVn, 29 li de 45 flug'is sur la teron, por 
gi'n 35 admir'i. 11 De li'a 34 flug'ad 59 o ek 47 levis sin 24 36 
varm'a, bon'odor'a 82 vento. La fier'aj 32 palmoj 32 
klin'is antaii Mahadeva si'a'j'n supr'o'jn, kaj ek- 
floris sub lia rigardo la puraj, blankaj, delikataj, 
aromaj lilioj. Mahadeva de 45 giris unu el la lilioj 
kaj Jetis gin en la lazuran maron. La vento ek- 
gancelis la kristalan akvon kaj enkovris 82 la 
bel'eg 66 an lilion per blanka gatimo. Minuto—kaj 
el tiu £i bukedo de §aumo ekfloris la vir'ino 76 — 
delikata, bon'odora kiel 90 la lilio, ganga kiel la 
maro, facila kiel la vento, kun beleco brilanta kiel 
la gatimo mara, kaj rapid'e 414 pasanta, kiel tiu £i 
gaiimo. 

La virino antau 6io ekrigardis en la kristalajn 
akvojn kaj kriis : 

‘ ‘ Kiel mi est'as 8 belega ! ” 

Poste gi ek'rigardis Cirkauen kaj diris : 

“ Kiel la mondo estas bela ! ” 

La virino el 49 iris sur la bordon seka el la akvo 
(de tiu ti tempo la virinoj Siam eliras sekaj el la 
akvo). 

Je la vido de la virino ek'floris la floroj sur la 
tero, kaj el la Cielo sur gin ek'celis milionoj da sci- 
volaj 82 okuloj. Tiuj 6i okuloj ek'brilis per ekstazo. 
De tiu Ci tempo lumas la steloj. La stelo Venus 
ek'brulis per envio —pro tio gi lumas pli forte ol 
multaj aliaj. 



23 


THE ORIGIN OF WOMAN 

w HEN . the almighty Mahadeva created (the) 
beautiful India, he flew [down] upon the earth 
(for) to admire it. From his flight [there] raised 
itself a warm, good-smelling wind. The proud 
palms bent before Mahadeva their tops, and under 
his glance blossomed the pure, white, delicate, 
aromatic lilies. Mahadeva plucked one of the lilies 
and threw it into the azure sea. The wind dis¬ 
turbed the crystal water and covered the beautiful 
lily with (by means of) white foam. A minute—and 
from out this bouquet of foam bloomed (the) 
woman—delicate, good-odored as the lily, change¬ 
ful as the sea, light as the wind, with beauty 
brilliant as the sea foam, and as rapidly passing as 
this foam. 

The woman before everything [first] looked into 
the crystal waters and exclaimed: 

“ How very beautiful I am I ” 

Afterwards she looked around and said: 

“How beautiful the world is ! ” 

The woman came out on the shore dry from the 
water (from this time the women always come out 
dry from the water). 

At sight of the woman blossomed the flowers on 
the earth, and from the sky there aimed upon her 
millions of curious eyes. These eyes blazed with 
ecstasy. From this time shine the stars. The 
star Venus blazed with envy—because of that it 
shines more brightly (strongly) than many others. 


24 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


La virino promen'ad 59 is tra belegaj arb'ar^oj 
kaj herb'ej 67 oj, kaj Cio silente estis rav'ita 15—22 de 
§i. Tio Ci ek'enu'ig'is la virinon. La virino ek- 
kriis : 

“Ho, Cio'pova Mahadeva ! Vi kreis min tiel 
bela 1 Cio estas ravita de mi, sed mi ne addas, 
ne scias pri tiuj Ci ravoj, Cio estas ravita si¬ 
lente ! ” 

Ek'addinte 18 21 tiun Ci plendon, Mahadeva kreis 
sen 55 nombrajn birdojn. La sennombraj birdoj 
kant'ad'is ravajn kantojn al la beleco de la belega 
virino. La virino ahskultis kaj rid'et 71 is. Sed post 
unu tago tio 92 Ci §in tedis. La virino ek'enuis. 

“ Ho, Ciopova Mahadeva ! ” ek'kriis §i, “al mi 
oni 25 kantas ravajn kantojn. En ili oni parolas, 
ke mi estas belega ! Sed kia beleco tio Ci estas, se 
neniu 94 volas min Cirkad 82 preni kaj karese sin al- 
premi al mi 1 ” 

Tiam 88 la Ciopova Mahadeva kreis la belan, 
fleksan serpenton. Gi Cirkau'pren'ad'is la belegan 
virinon kaj rampis apud §iaj piedoj. Du'on 40 tagon 
la virino estis kontenta, poste §i ek'enuis kaj kriis : 

“ Ha, se mi efektive estus 12 bela, aliaj penus 
min 36 imiti. La najtingalo kantas belege, kaj la 
kardelo gin imitas. Kredeble 04 mi ne estas jam tiel 
bela.” 

La Ciopova Mahadeva por la kontent'igo 73 de la 
virino kreis la simion. La simio imitis Ciun movon 
de la virino, kaj la virino ses horojn estis kontenta, 
sed poste kun larmoj §i ekkriis : 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


25 


The woman walked through beautiful forests 
and meadows, and everything silently was charmed 
by her. This wearied the woman. The woman 
exclaimed : 

“Oh, almighty Mahadeva ! You created me 
thus beautiful l Everything is delighted by me, but 
I hear not, know not about those delights, every¬ 
thing is charmed in silence (silently).” 

Having heard this complaint, Mahadeva cre¬ 
ated numberless birds. The numberless birds 
sang charming songs to the beauty of the beautiful 
woman. The woman heard and smiled. But after 
one day this wearied her. The woman grew tired. 

“Oh, almighty Mahadeva ! ” cried she, “they 
sing to me charming songs. In them they say that 
I am beautiful. But what kind of beauty is this, 
if nobody wishes to embrace me and caressingly 
press oneself to me?” 

The almighty Mahadeva created the beautiful, 
bending serpent. It pressed (around) the beauti¬ 
ful woman and crawled near her feet. Half a day 
the woman was content, and after, wearied and cried: 

“Ah, if I were really beautiful, others would 
try to imitate me. The nightingale sings beauti¬ 
fully, and the goldfinch imitates it. [It] is possible 
(of belief) that I already am not so beautiful ! ” 

The almighty Mahadeva for the contentment of 
the woman created the monkey. The monkey imi¬ 
tated every move of the woman, and the woman 
six hours was content, but after, with tears cried: 


26 AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 

‘ ‘Mi estas tiel bela, tiel belega! Pri mi oni 26 
kantas, oni min Sirkauprenas, rampas apud miaj 
piedoj kaj min imitas. Oni min admiras kaj min 
envias, tiel ke mi efi komencas timi. Kiu 94 do min 
defend'os, 10 se oni ek'volos fari al mi de envio mal- 
bonon 29 ?” 

Mahadeva kreis la fortan, potencan leonon. 
La leono gardis la virinon. La virino tri horojn 
estis kontenta, sed post tri horoj §i ek'kriis: 

“Mi estas belega! Oni min karesas, mi—neniun! 
Oni min amas, mi—neniun ! Mi ne povas ami tiun 
Ci grandegan, teruran leonon, por kiu mi sentas 
estimon kaj timon ! ” Kaj en tiu Si sama minuto 
antaii la virino, lati la volo de Mahadeva, aperis 
mal 52 granda, bel'eta 71 hund'et'o. 

“Kiel am'inda 77 besto ! ” ekkriis la virino, kaj 
komencis karesi la hundeton. “Kiel mi gin 
amas!” 

Nun la virino havis Cion, §i pri nenio 92 povis 
peti. Tio 6i §in ek'koler'ig 73 is. Por el 49 lasi la 
koleron, §i ek'batis la hundeton—la hundeto ek'bojis 
kaj for 60 kuris ; §i ekbatis la leonon—la leono ek- 
murmur'eg'is kaj for'iris ; §i surpass per piedo sur 
la serpenton—la serpento ek'siblis kaj for'rampis. 
La simio for'kuris kaj la birdoj for'flugis, kiam la 
virino ekkriis je ili. 

“Ho, mi mal 52 feli£a ! ” ekkriis la virino, rom- 
pante 21 la manojn. “Oni min karesas, laiidas, 
kiam mi estas en bona humoro, kaj £iuj for'kuras, 
kiam mi far'ig 74 as kolera ! Mi sola ! Ho, eiopova 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


27 


“ I am so beautiful, so very beautiful! They 
sing of me, they caress me, they crawl at my feet 
and they imitate me. They admire me and envy 
me, so that I even begin to fear. Who therefore 
will defend me, if they should wish from envy to do 
me harm?’* 

Mahadeva created the strong, powerful lion. 
The lion guarded the woman. Three hours the 
woman was content, but after three hours she cried: 

“ I am beautiful! They caress me, I [caress] 
nobody 1 They love me, I [love] nobody 1 I can 
not indeed love this immense, terrible lion, for 
who[m] I feel esteem and fear!” And in this 
same minute, before the woman, according to the 
will of Mahadeva, appeared a pretty little dog. 

“What a lovable animal!” exclaimed the 
woman, and began to caress the dog. “How I 
love it!” 

Now the woman had everything, she could ask 
for nothing. This made her angry. (For) to let 
out the anger, she beat the dog—the dog yelped 
aud ran off; she struck the lion— the lion growled 
and went away; she stepped on the serpent—the 
serpent hissed and crawled off. The monkey ran 
away and the birds flew away, when the woman 
yelled at them. 

“Oh, unhappy I!” exclaimed the woman, wring¬ 
ing her (breaking the) hands. “They caress me, 
praise me, when I am in a good humor, and all run 
away when I become angry ! Lonely I [me]! Oh 


28 AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 

Mahadeva ! Je la lasta fojo mi vin petas : Kre'u 13 
al mi tia'n ekzist'aJ 61 on, surkiu'n mi pov'us 12 el'lasi 
la koleron, kiu ne havus la kuragon for'kuri de mi 
kiam mi estas kolera, kiu estus dev'ig 73 ita pacience 
el'port'adi ffiujn batojn ! ” 

Mahadeva en'pens'ig'is kaj kreis al §i—la ed- 
zon ! 


VOCABULARY 

The following list contains all the elements 
found in the preceding story. But the reader will 
find it necessary to resolve each compound word to 
elements. For example, he will not find such a 
word as ekenuigis , but ek, enu , ig, and is. 


a, sign of the adjective 6 
ad, suffix denoting dura¬ 
tion of an action 
admir-i, to admire 
aj, suffix denoting sub¬ 
stance, concrete idea 
akv-o, water 
al, to, toward 
ali-a, other 
am-i, to love 
ant, sign of the present 
participle 15 — 22 
antau, before 
aper-i, to appear 
apud, beside, near to 
ar, suffix denoting a col¬ 
lection or group 63 
arb-o, tree 


as, sign of present tense 8 
aud-i, to hear 
auskult-i, to listen 

bat-i, to beat 
bel-a, beautiful 
best-o, animal 
bird-o, bird 
blank-a, white 
boj-i, to bark 
bon-a, good 
bord-o, shore 
bril-i, to shine 
brul-i, to burn 
buked-o, bouquet 


cel-o, aim 



AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


29 


almighty Mahadeva l For the last time I beg you : 
Create for (to) me such a being, on which I can let 
out the anger, which will not have the courage to 
run away from me when I am angry, which would 
be compelled patiently to bear all blows ! ” 

Mahadeva fell to thinking (went into thought) 
and created to her—the husband ! 


ti, denotes proximity : 
tio that , tio ci this ; 
tie there, tie ci here 
Siam, always 88 
ciel-o, sky, heaven 
Sio, everything 92 
£irkau, about, around 
ciu, every, everyone 94 

da, of (with words indi¬ 
cating quantity 
de, of, from, by 
defend-i, to defend 
delikat-a, delicate 
dev-i, ought 
dir-i, to say 
do, then, consequently 
du, two 36 

e, sign of the adverb 14 
ebl, suffix denoting pos¬ 
sibility 64 

ec, suffix denoting qual¬ 
ity 65 

ec, even 
edz-o, husband 


efektiv-a, real, actual 
eg, suffix denoting en¬ 
largement 66 

ej, suffix denoting place 67 

ek, prefix denoting be¬ 
ginning of an action 47 

ekstaz-o, ecstasy 
ekzist-i, to exist 

el, out of, from 49 
en, in 

enu-i, to be wearied 
envi-o, envy 
est-i, to be 
estim-i, to esteem 
et, suffix denoting dim¬ 
inution 71 

facil-a, easy, gentle 
far-i, to do, to make 
felic-a, happy 
fier-a, proud 
fleks-i, to bend 
flor-o, flower 
flug-i, to fly 
foj-o, time (as “three 
times,” etc. 



30 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


for, away 50 
fort-a, strong 

gard-i, to guard 
grand-a, large, great 

£i, it 

hav-i, to have 
herb-o, grass 
hind-o, a Hindu 
hor-o, an hour 
humor-o, humor, tem¬ 
per 

hund-o, dog 

i, sign of the infinitive 11 
ig, suffix meaning “to 

cause” 73 

ig, suffix meaning “to 
become” 74 
imit-i, to imitate 

in, suffix denoting femi- 

• 76 

nine 

ind, s u ffi x denoting 
worthiness 77 
ir-i, to go 

is, sign of the past tense 
of verbs 9 

it, sign of the past pas¬ 
sive participle 15 — 21 

j, sign of the plural 3132 
ja,indeed 

jam, already 

je, a preposition with no 


fixed meaning: at , for , 
in, etc. 

jet-i, to throw 

kaj, and 
kant-i, to sing 
kardel-o, goldfinch 
kares-i, to caress 
ke, that 

kia, what kind of 86 
kiam, when 88 
kiel, how, as 90 
kio, what thing 92 
kiu, who 94 
klin-i, to bend 
koler-o, anger 
komenc-i, to commence 
kontent-a, content 
kovr-i, to cover 
kre-i, to create 
kred-i, to believe 
kri-i, to cry 
kristal-a, crystal 
kun, with 
kur-i, to run 
kurag-o, courage 

la, the 

larm-o, a tear (eye) 
las-i, to leave, to let 
last-a,last 
lau, according to 
laud-i, to praise 
lazur-a, azure 
legend-o, legend 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


3i 


leon-o, lion 
lev-i, to lift 

li, he ; lia, his ; lin, him 
lili-o, lily 
lum-o, light 

mal, prefix denoting 
contraries 62 
man-o, hand 
mar-o, sea 

mi, I ; mia, my, mine; 
min, me 

miljard-o, a billion 
minut-o, minute 
mond-o, world 
mov-i, to move 
mult-a, much, many 
murmur-i, to murmur, 
to growl 

n, sign of the object of a 
verb 29 80 

najtingal-o, nightingale 
ne, no, not 
nenio, nothing 92 
neniu, no one 94 
nombr-o, number 
nun, now 

o, sign of the noun 5 
odor-o, odor 
okul-o, eye 

on, sign of fractions 40 
oni, “one,” “people” 25 
os, future sign of verb 10 


pacienc-o, patience 
palm-o, palm (tree 
parol-i to speak 
pas-i, to pass 
pa§-o, step 
pen-i, to try 
pens-i, to think 
per, by means of 
pet-i, to beg, ask for 
pied-o, foot 
plend-i, to complain 
por, for 
port-i, to carry 
post, after 
potenc-a, powerful 
pov-i, to be able, can 
prem-i, to press 
pren-i, to take 
pri, about, concerning 
pro, because of 
promen-i, to walk 
pur-a, clean, pure 

ramp-i, to crawl 
rapid-a, rapid 
rav-a, ravishing, lovely 
rid-i, to laugh 
rigard-i, to look at 
romp-i, to break 

sam-a, same 
sci-i, to know 
se, if 
sed, but 
sek-a, dry 
sen, without 


32 


AN INTRODUCTION TO ESPERANTO 


sent-i, to feel 
serpent-o, serpent 
ses, six 36 
si, self, selves 24 34 
sibl-i, to hiss 
silent-a, silent 
simi-o, monkey 
sol-a, alone 
stel-o, star 
sub, under 
supr-o, top 
sur, on, upon 

sancel-i, to shake 
§ang-i, to change 
saum-o, foam 
si, she; sia, her, hers ; 
sin, her 23 34 

tag-o, day 
ted-i, to annoy 
temp-o, time 
ter-o, earth 
terur-o, terror 


tia, that kind of, such 86 
tiam, then 88 
tiel, thus, so 90 
tim-i, to fear 
tio, that (thing) 92 
tiu, that one 94 
tra, through 
traduk-i, to translate 
tri, three 36 

u, sign of the impera¬ 
tive 13 

uj, suffix denoting that 
which contains 80 
unu, one 36 

us, conditional verb 12 

varm-a, warm 
ven-i, to come 
vent-o, wind 
vi, you 
vid-i, to see 
vir-o, a man 
vol-i, to wish 


J-JELP your friends and neighbors to a broader 
horizon by teaching them Esperanto. Send 
for a free copy of Bulletin No. 2, which contains 
full information as to starting an Esperanto club. 
Subscribe at once for Amerika Esperantisto , the 
monthly magazine (official journal of the Esperanto 
Association of North America). Join the Associ¬ 
ation (annual dues 25c) and be its representative 
in your locality. 



HOW TO LEARN ESPERANTO 


The best way is to organize a club among your 
friends, and study together. The language can be 
easily learned thus, or one may learn by home 
study. The American Esperanto Book was 
prepared especially to facilitate self-instruction. 
Everything is clearly explained, the exercises are 


international and official. 



gratulate our American friends 
helpful manual. 


The following review is 
from the highest authority 
in the world —The British 
Esperantist, London: 

We consider this the very best 
Esperanto manual yet produced for 
English learners of the language. 
Very well and clearly printed on 
good paper in large type, strongly 
bound, the book itself is a pleasure 
to handle. The contents of the book 
are equally good and well-arranged: 
a short article on pronunciation, the 
16 rules in Esperanto and English, 
some 60 pages explanatory of those 
rules from the viewpoint of English 
grammar, followed by the Ekzekcaro 
(essential to all sound teaching) with 
key and explanations, and two very 
complete vocabularies [Esperanto- 
English and English-Esperanto, 130 
pages]. The book is remarkably free 
from typographical or other errors. 
We heartily recommend it and con- 
the possession of such a clear and 


PRICE LIST 

The American Esperanto Book , cloth, postpaid $1.00. Five 
or more copies, 75c each. 

Amerika Esperantisto is a monthly magazine of Esperanto 
literature, news and instruction. Per year, one dollar. 
With each new subscription, free , a paper-covered copy 
of The American Esperayito Book. The magazine and 
paper book, in clubs of five or more, 75c. 

Amerika Esperantisto one year and a copy of the Book, in 
cloth, $1.50. This combination in clubs of five, $1.20. 

Esperayito Bulletin , a small monthly newspaper, 10c a year. 

An Introduction to Esperanto , book for beginners, ten cents. 

Elements of Esperanto, propaganda, 5c; 10, 10c; 100 for 50c. 

AMERICAN ESPERANTIST CO. CHICAGO 




















































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